Should We Accept Pedophilia?

Pedophilia has never been a favorite topic because it is such a horror to even think about it – to see a child as an object of sexual desire is such a disgust! However, this unfathomable deed is slowly creeping out into the light, making people aware and somehow prepare for it!

How do we ever be ready for such a transgression? Children are our weakness, and their innocence makes them pure and unique. Parents die to give the best for their kids, and our hearts melt with the sight of their happiness and weeps with their pain.

Nowadays, there have been a high number of incidents that shocked the world. Children have been taken away from home to satisfy the needs of the pedophiles, and sadly, there are cases where their home is where they experienced hell, and their parents are the direct doer of evil.

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What Is Pedophilia?

Pedophilia is the feeling of being sexually attracted to children. It is way beyond the norm to think of a child as a sexual object because people are typically drawn to physical looks like seeing sexy chests and legs for women and a muscular body for men. How can someone be attracted to a child who hasn’t even developed physically?

Pedophilia is a form of paraphilia or the condition where a person feels sexually aroused fantasizing and engaging in an unusual way. In the case of pedophilia, a person fantasizes in having sex with children aged 13 years or below.

Is Pedophilia A Psychiatric Disorder?

Yes, since pedophilia is a form of paraphilia which is believed to be a psychiatric disorder, it is logical to consider it as a mental health problem. People do not entertain issues about it because we could not accept or believe it exists. However, shedding light on this matter will in fact help understand that pedophilia is an obsession. It doesn’t mean that the person wanted it. Somehow, it is similar to sexual preference. A man may have an unexplainable desire to be a woman and vice versa, but they did not choose to feel that way.

Is There A Treatment For Pedophiles?

To diagnose a person with pedophilia, he must have repeated experiences where he feels intense sexual arousal, fantasies, or urges, towards a child aged 13 years old or younger. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, he could then undergo the following treatments:

Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Androgen Deprivation Therapy involves a form of medication which reduces the male hormones, especially the testosterone. Some studies show physical or chemical treatment in paraphilias is more beneficial than psychosocial methods.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy helps in redirecting the thoughts and behavior of a person by eliminating the obsessive thoughts.

Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

Serotonin reuptake inhibitors is a medication for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Since pedophilia is similar to having an obsession, it has now been discovered to be beneficial in treating sexual disorders.

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Pedophilia as an action is unacceptable now and ever. Some movements favoring it are orienting us, setting our mind that it is a normal feeling. Most people are expressing outrage, and they should be. However, it is something we all should understand, so we can give a chance to people experiencing it to live a normal life. Pedophilia is wrong when the feeling has been acted upon, but until then, a person suffering from it needs help.